Sadness Stalls the Infection
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Pulaski clocks a faint dimming on the panel and pushes Troi for an emotional read; Troi pins it as sadness as the infection’s growth visibly eases.
They lock the insight into a rule: different endorphins drive the organisms, and negative emotions like sadness generate chemistry that inhibits their growth.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Controlled, clinically anxious — outwardly authoritative while privately weighing dread and moral hesitation.
Pulaski monitors the vital-readouts, reasons aloud about biochemical mechanisms, refuses an immediate drug dose, and physically adjusts the neural-stimulation device to search for memories that produce stronger negative emotions.
- • slow or halt the organism's growth without fatally destabilizing Riker
- • avoid the risky repeat administration of tricordrazine if possible
- • find an alternative (behavioral/neural) treatment that exploits the organism's sensitivity
- • buy time to stabilize Riker's vitals
- • The organism is biochemically responsive to specific endorphin profiles.
- • Pharmaceutical intervention (tricordrazine) carries high risk and should be conserved.
- • Inducing targeted emotional states is an acceptable clinical tactic if it increases survival odds.
Physically compromised and internally immersed in sadness (from induced memories); vulnerability and unwillingness to be an active participant in the clinical decision.
Riker is the subject of neural stimulation; his body gives a quick reflexive movement as Pulaski refocuses the pattern while monitors show his vital signs continuing to weaken.
- • survive the infection and the treatment
- • remain as stable as possible under stimulation
- • trust the medical team to choose the least harmful option
- • He trusts the Enterprise medical staff to save him.
- • He is unable to actively control the emotional states Pulaski and Troi are using but hopes the interventions will help.
Focused and gently urgent: emotionally present for Riker while committed to objectively relaying what she senses to Pulaski.
Troi stands at Riker's bedside, reads his empathic state clearly as 'sadness', translates that into biochemical significance for Pulaski, and supports using emotion-driven memories as a tactical tool.
- • accurately identify Riker's emotional state to inform treatment
- • advocate for a non-pharmaceutical strategy if it can help
- • comfort Riker insofar as professional distance allows
- • Emotional states produce measurable physiological changes that can be clinically relevant.
- • Her empathic readings are reliable and actionable in a crisis.
- • Using Riker's memories to change his biochemistry is morally fraught but potentially life-saving.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Tricordrazine is referenced as a known pharmaceutical option that Pulaski hesitates to re-administer; its mention frames the ethical and clinical stakes and motivates Pulaski to attempt a neural/emotional intervention instead of risking another dose.
The bedside vital-signs monitor displays Riker's nervous-system readout and the microbial highlight; its subtle dimming is the empirical signal that the organisms' growth has slowed, guiding Pulaski's and Troi's tactical decisions and providing the immediate evidence for emotion-based treatment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Enterprise Sickbay functions as the clinical arena where empirical observation, ethical choices, and intimate power dynamics converge: monitors, consoles, and the biobed frame Pulaski's procedural authority and Troi's emotional reading as they gamble with Riker's mind and body.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Reliving Tasha’s death produces sadness that Pulaski registers as inhibiting microbial growth."
"Reliving Tasha’s death produces sadness that Pulaski registers as inhibiting microbial growth."
"Ian’s death memory amplifies sorrow, reinforcing the observed slowdown in infection."
"Ian’s death memory amplifies sorrow, reinforcing the observed slowdown in infection."
"Pulaski tightens the current to target pain memories, then escalates to even harsher stimulation."
"Pulaski tightens the current to target pain memories, then escalates to even harsher stimulation."
Key Dialogue
"PULASKI: The growth rate has definitely slowed. What is he feeling? Can you tell?"
"TROI: Sadness."
"PULASKI: I'm refocusing the pattern again. We need to isolate memories that generate stronger negative emotions."